Undercover
by AlexKost
Summary: A political nightmare about an NYPD undercover unit ends up concerning the New York CSI team when Lindsay is kidnapped, and the involvement might be deadly for two other NYPD detectives. Rated T because it's CSI. Some Flack/Angell and Danny/Lindsay stuff.
1. Chapter 1

This fic contains some Danny/Lindsay and some Flack/Angell. If you do not like either of these ships, save me and yourself some time and don't read this. If you read it anyway, please don't spam me with "GRR! I HATE DL/FA!" comments, because I actually have a life.

Thank you.

--

For some reason, murder always happened at the most inconvenient time. Sure, it was inconvenient for the murdered, but it was also untimely for the people that investigated the crimes.

Especially if they caused you to be called in on your day off.

This was one of the thoughts running through Detective Jessica Angell's mind as she walked under the crime scene tape that was already up. CSIs Lindsay Monroe and Stella Bonasera were already processing the scene, which meant that Angell had no real idea why she was here in the first place.

Stella was the first one to look up. "Hey, sorry you got called in, but there were no available on-duty detectives."

Angell shrugged and lied, "I don't really mind." Truthfully, she hated the fact that she had to be here instead of at home, but the CSI looked apologetic, so she let it go. "But you can make it up by telling me what we've got."

Stella smiled. "Well, Mr. Chase Howard here somehow ended up with two execution-style bullets to the head," she said with the good-natured attitude that, at a crime scene, can only be held by an experienced homicide investigator. "And Lindsay and I are going to try to find out how that happened."

Angell nodded. "Who found the body?"

"Landlady. She came to collect Howard's rent and ended up collecting some bad memories instead. She's waiting over there for you to talk to her." Lindsay gestured to an angry-looking elderly woman standing outside of the tape.

Angell sighed. "That looks like it's going to be fun."

"Good luck!" Stella grinned.

"Right. Thanks," Angell muttered as she made her way towards what looked like one of her more frustrating interviews.

As it was, the interview with the landlady went like pretty much every other interview Angell had taken. "Where were you last night?" "At home asleep." "Did you know the victim?" "Not really." "Any problems with him?" "Look, detective, I just want my money. Am I ever going to get it?"

Well, Angell certainly wasn't getting it out of the dead man's pocket for her.

"You know, I think that louse was selling drugs out of my apartment," the elderly woman grunted.

Okay, maybe a dime or two.

"Drugs? You think Chase Howard was selling drugs?" Angell turned her attention back to the witness, finally hearing something interesting from her mouth.

"Something illegal, at least. He kept having these trouble-looking men over with all of these tattoos and nonsense at all hours of the day and night. And they always seemed to have money or packages with them."

Angell thought about this for a second. Maybe this explained the execution-style murder. "Do you know if Mr. Howard had a girlfriend?"

"There was a girl that came by here every once in a while, but I don't think she was his girlfriend."

"Why not?"

"Oh, well, she couldn't have been older than seventeen, and besides, she didn't look happy to be here. Serious-looking kid, blonde, blue eyes. Acted a lot older than she looked. She asked me very politely one time if I had seen any people that looked dangerous wandering around Mr. Howard's apartment. I told her about the men, and she looked rather angry, but just thanked me and left the building."

Angell narrowed her eyes. This seemed like something worth checking in to. "Did you get a name?"

The woman screwed up her eyes, thinking hard. "Uhm… let's see… I think her first name was Christine I don't remember her last name."

"Do you think you could remember what she looked like?"

"I couldn't describe her, but if I saw her again, I'd recognize her."

"Do you have any security cameras here?"

The landlady smiled kindly, and Angell immediately knew the answer. "No, dear, I don't really have any need for them."

Angell sighed inwardly, thanked the woman, and ducked back under the tape.

"So, did miss landlady have anything to say?" Stella asked Angell as she walked over.

Angell shrugged noncommittally. "She thinks Howard was dealing drugs. Said she saw a lot of suspicious people stopping by his apartment. She also said that there was a teenager that was around a little bit, and actually asked her if there was anyone suspicious hanging around."

"Did she get a good look at this kid?" Lindsay inquired.

Angell shook her head. "She said that she could recognize her if she saw her again, but couldn't describe her. I managed to get a first name, though. Christine."

"Okay, then we need to find out who that kid was… and what she has to do with our case." Stella said as she snapped her kit shut. "I'm going to get this evidence back to the lab, Linds, can you hang around here and finish up?"

Lindsay nodded, hunched over a bag coated in a white powder. "Yeah… wait a second and take this back, it looks like cocaine."

Angell snorted. "That lady was right? I'm surprised. I figured the girl's name would end up being Nicole."

Lindsay grinned, sealed the bag in an evidence bag, and handed it to Stella. "Well, they both have letters in common."

"Okay, then Laura. I'm going to check the surrounding buildings to see if we can find anyone else that saw anything suspicious. The cop at the door is staying." Angell left the room, followed shortly by Stella. Lindsay stood up, looking around the room. The body had been removed by the coroner, and the apartment was pretty empty now that she was alone.

Or, maybe not. A sound came out of a nearby room, like someone was behind the wood door.

Lindsay's hand went instinctively to the gun on her belt and turned to look at the tape, in front of which stood a uniformed officer. Bring him in, or not? Lindsay decided that she was probably hearing things, and turned back.

The door was open.

"_It was just wind…"_ Lindsay told herself, but her grip tightened and the gun started to slide out its holster without her even realizing it. _"It was just some draft that blew the door opened… but how, if it was shut tight?"_

She could sense that someone was behind her, but before she could turn, a hand smacked over her mouth.

"Make a sound and I kill you and the cop," a voice hissed into her ear. Lindsay could feel her gun be forced out from her grip, and she heard it be set on a nearby table. The badge and ID was also taken from her belt and set down.

"Okay, Detective Monroe. You've gotten involved in something you shouldn't be involved in. Unfortunately, that means you have to be taken out of the way."

There was a bang, and Lindsay heard a body hit the floor, but the man holding her was still standing.

"Your boss's wakeup call will be the dead body of that cop out there," the man growled. "Come, detective. We have places to be."

Lindsay couldn't resist as a gun was shoved in her back and she was forced out of the crime scene.


	2. Chapter 2

Detective Jessica Angell was not having good luck with witnesses today

I just realized that there are some coincidental similarities between a story I just read and the story I'm writing, so I'd like to take a second to ascertain the fact that I didn't copy this story from anything.

Side Note: Sorry about the mixup with Christine's name. Some of you will know what I'm talking about, others won't. Just ignore it.

--

Detective Jessica Angell was not having good luck with witnesses today. She went to all of the surrounding public buildings, and she had nothing to show for it. As she entered the last store near the apartment building, she didn't have high hopes for any luck with the single employee, a man of about forty that was standing behind the counter.

"Yeah, that kid came here every Friday at about three. It made sense, since the high school up the road lets out at two-thirty."

"Do you know her name?"

The man nodded. "Yeah, she knows my daughter. Her name's Christine Blake. Bit of an odd kid, though."

"Odd how?"

"Well, she's a good student, but doesn't really care. My daughter, Kylie, she gets one A and she's celebrating for weeks. Christine… she gets all A's, and doesn't even smile when she mentions it. I mean, if you're used to that type of stuff, it sort of makes sense, but that's not the only thing that's odd. When she comes in here, she buys a Sprite and a pack of gum, and then just wanders the store, looking at everyone in here like she's taking mental notes of how many people there are and what they look like. She does that for about ten minutes, goes into that apartment building, and leaves twenty minutes later and vanishes."

Angell frowned. "Same every time?"

"_Every_ time. No matter what. Every Friday, rain or snow, school or no school, she is here at three PM and does that routine."

Angell nodded. "Thank you, Mr. McGold. I'll be back tomorrow to see if I can catch up with Christine. I'd appreciate it if you could not tell her that I was asking about her."

"No problem. I don't really talk to the kid, anyway."

Angell left the store with the distinct impression that, for the first time that day, something might be easy.

She walked into the apartment building, heading towards the stairs to get back to the crime scene. When she reached the second floor, she froze. The cop that was guarding the scene was lying on the ground, covered in blood. Angell grabbed her gun, raising it immediately as she walked down the hallway. Cautiously looking around, she knelt to check the officer's pulse.

Dead.

It suddenly struck Angell that Lindsay had still been in this crime scene when she left. Being careful to clear the entire apartment before she looked around, Angell saw Lindsay gun, badge, and ID sitting on a table.

"Damn it, Lindsay," Angell muttered as she reached for her radio to call it in.

Danny Messer was the last one to get the call. It was as if everyone was afraid to call him. When he got to the crime scene, Angell and Flack were standing outside of the door, talking quietly.

"Danny," Flack said suddenly, almost like a warning to Angell, who was the one currently speaking.

Angell stopped abruptly at Flack's words, and turned around.

"I just heard. Is it true? Lindsay's missing?" Danny's voice was laced with stress.

Angell sighed. "Yes, Danny."

Danny paused, his eyes trailing to the blood stained on the floor. "Is she dead?"

Angell and Flack both fell silent.

"I don't think so, Danny," Mac Taylor said from behind his CSI. The CSI leader was watching the younger man with a gentle look in his eyes. He knew the importance of Lindsay to Danny, whether Danny himself knew it fully or not. "Whoever did it left the dead cop here, why take her if she was just going to be killed immediately?"

The last word hung silently in the air. _Immediately_. There was a lot of time between immediately and standing at this crime scene.

"Hey, Danny," Stella said, ducking under the tape to join the meeting of four. She looked somewhat stunned; she probably knew that it very well could have been her everyone was searching for. "Hawkes is processing the scene now. He thinks he figured out how the guy got in."

Glancing at each other, Flack and Angell went back into the crime scene. Danny went to follow, but Mac grabbed his arm. Danny looked at him, his eyes hard. "Let go, Mac."

"Just listen to me, Danny. I know you want to help, but don't let your emotions get the better of you. If you do, you'll just miss something, and that won't help Lindsay at all."

"That's easy for you to say," Danny growled.

Mac didn't respond. He let go of the CSI, patted him lightly on the shoulder, and motioned for him to follow the two detectives. Danny gave Mac a half-glance, and then pulled up the tape, going into the apartment, with Stella and Mac close behind.

Sheldon Hawkes was standing next to the window by the fire escape, staring contemplatively at the opening.

"What d'you got, Hawkes?" Mac asked, stepping into the small bedroom.

Hawkes pointed at the opened window. "The guy got in through the window that led to the fire escape. The thing is, there are prints left behind, so he either didn't care or didn't expect anyone to be processing the scene when he got here."

Mac nodded. "Is there anything in this apartment clarifying the existence of this kid that's apparently here?"

"No, but when I was talking to the nearby shop owners, one of them said that her name's Christine Blake. She always goes to the same store every Friday at three, so I figured I'd stop by and try to find her," Angell said from her position standing next to Flack.

Mac frowned. "It's a shame we can't find her any sooner. Flack, Angell, why don't the two of you go and wait for Ms. Blake; it's 2:30 now. Danny and Hawkes will get the evidence back to the lab and run it. Stella, you and I are going to talk to Sid about our victims."

He shot Danny one last look and followed Stella out of the crime scene.

Sid Hammerback was looking at something inside of a small plastic container when Mac and Stella walked into his autopsy room. "What have you got, Sid?" Mac asked.

"Three bullets pulled from your dead officer, two from Mr. Howard." Sid handed Mac two containers, one containing two smaller bullets and one containing two larger bullets.

"The officer was shot by a .48 and Howard was shot by a nine-mil," Stella commented, looking at the bullets. "That could mean different shooters."

"I found two other interesting pieces of information." Sid pulled back the sheet over Howard and pointed at the tattoo on his right shoulder. The design was a handgun being circled by a cobra. "Recognize the tat? It's the symbol of the gang that follows that drug lord, Cobra. The other interesting thing is that your victim had high but non-lethal amounts of cocaine and marijuana in his system."

"So this is about drugs," Stella concluded.

"Most likely, but that's your job." Sid grinned.

Mac looked back at the fallen officer. "Any clue as to what caused our cop to get shot?"

"Well, he was shot from behind, so I'd guess that your killer wanted him out of the way so he could take Lindsay."

Mac and Stella both sighed. Stella looked at Howard. "Let's just hope that the killer doesn't want Lindsay out of the way, too."

Jessica Angell was leaning against the counter of John McGold's store, pretending to read one of the random magazines the man kept in the front of his store. Angell could see Don in the back of the store, looking through the newspapers. They were waiting for Christine Blake to show up. A man with dark brown hair strutted into the store, grabbed a beer from one of the packages in the aisles, and twisted it open, taking a sip. He strolled up to the counter.

"Sup, McGold? Hey, uh… hand me a pack of cigarettes." The man looked at Angell. "What are you looking at, girl? You think I'm going to rob the place or something?" He noticed the slight bulge of the gun attached to her hip, and his head spun around. When he saw Flack staring at him, he bolted, running out the store with the beer bottle still in his hand.

Angell saw Flack take off after him, and found herself hurrying after within seconds. The man ran into an alley, but Flack grabbed him by the back of his shirt and threw him to the ground. "That's shoplifting, buddy," Flack growled as the beer bottle rolled away. Flack took out his handcuffs as Angell's gun leveled at the flight risk. That's when both of them heard the car pull into the alley. A man jumped out of the passenger seat of the car with a handgun in his grip. He raised the gun and fired, missing Flack's head by an inch. Flack and Angell both turned to run and saw that the alley ended in a brick wall.

"Great, a dead end," Flack muttered.

"I really hate that phrase," Angell hissed to him as she dropped her gun. There was another bang, and Angell yelped, grabbing her left arm.

"Jess, are you okay?" Flack demanded immediately, pulling her towards him.

"I'd be better if he didn't just shoot me," Angell growled through gritted teeth, clutching the upper part of her arm.

The man that had fled from them earlier laughed, leaning on the hood of the car. "Look, cops, I don't know what you want from a model citizen like me, but in case you didn't notice I don't come quietly. And the best thing is that you're trapped."

"We wouldn't have even bothered with you if you hadn't run," Flack snarled. "We don't even know who you are!"

"I? I am Lion, a top lieutenant in the Cobra gang. The shooter to my right is Tiger. The driver to my left is Bear."

"Lions, tigers, and bears, oh my."

Lion raised a gun that he had acquired from Tiger at Flack. "Being smart isn't helpful, boy. I think you need a lesson in manners." Before Lion could fire, he fell to the ground, a bullet in his forehead.

Tiger and Bear both stared at their fallen friend, stunned. "Where did that come from?" Tiger asked in a thick Southern accent.

"No idea," Bear replied, his accent a familiar New Yorker's.

Another bullet knocked the gun out of Tiger's hand.

"Enough of this shit, let's get out of here!" Bear yelled at Tiger, starting up the car. As soon as Tiger got back in the passenger seat, the car back out of the alley and sped away.

"Don… what just happened?" Angell murmured, ignoring the blood covering her right hand that was coming out of her left arm and staring at the dead gang member.

A person in a hooded sweatshirt slid down a ladder on the building to their left. A handgun was holstered to their right side.

"Who are you?" Flack demanded.

The hood was pulled down, revealing blonde hair and blue eyes. The girl gave them a grim smile.

"Are you Christine Blake?" Angell asked.

Without saying a word, the girl nodded.


	3. Chapter 3

Mac Taylor stood in front of the one-way glass that separated him from Christine Blake, who was sitting in the interview room

Mac Taylor stood in front of the one-way glass that separated him from Christine Blake, who was sitting in the interview room. She looked unperturbed to be in the box, but her right hand had been twitching nervously ever since her gun had been taken to be compared with the weapons that killed Howard and the officer. Stella walked up behind him.

"So that's our girl?"

Mac nodded. "Christine Blake, sixteen."

"She's just a kid, Mac…"

"I know."

Stella noticed a small backpack sitting on the floor next to the girl. "What's in the bag?"

"A binder, spare bullets, and a Nintendo DS."

Stella shook her head, a small smile on her face. "Teenagers."

Mac laughed. "Yeah. Come on, let's she what she knows." Mac turned and walked out of the observation room and into the interrogation room.

Christine looked up immediately at his entrance.

"Christine, my name is Detective Taylor. This is Detective Bonasera."

The girl didn't respond.

"I need to ask you some things."

"Do I need to answer?" Christine gave Mac a small, almost sarcastic smile.

"It would be recommended, since you did kill a man," Stella answered, sitting down opposite of her.

"Does it count as murder if he was going to kill two detectives? How is the detective that got shot, by the way?"

"She's fine. We have a witness that says that you visited Chase Howard on occasion. Is that true?" Mac sat down next to Stella.

"Possibly."

Stella gave Mac a sideways glance. "Why do you carry a gun, Ms. Blake?"

The girl smiled. "The same reason you do, Detective Bonasera."

"Christine, we don't have time to play this game with you. Someone kidnapped one of our CSIs," Mac said, his voice hard.

Christine's smile faded, and her voice grew cold. "Okay, I'll help. What is it that you need exactly?"

"We need everything that you know about Chase Howard and the gang called Cobra."

Christine looked at Stella. "That's quite a lot, since I've been working undercover to take Cobra down for over six months."

Jessica Angell walked into the lab where Hawkes was processing fingerprints with her arm in a sling. The hospital doctor that had fixed the gunshot wound had demanded it, even though she didn't want it. Unfortunately for her, Don Flack had decided that if the sling was necessary, she had to wear it, and since he was practically glued to her side ever since she got shot, she couldn't even slip it off. Granted, Angell didn't mind the attention, (from Don, at least) but he could at least let her take the rather annoying sling off of her arm.

"Don't even think about it, Jess," Flack said, grinning, as she shifted her arm uncomfortably in the sling.

"Don, I'm warning you. I still have one good arm."

Hawkes laughed from his seat at the computer. "Be careful, Flack. She might slug you."

Angell and Flack both shot him looks. Hawkes snickered and turned the computer screen towards them. "Prints matched Josef David. I even have an address for you."

Flack wrote down the address on the screen and turned to Angell. "You, stay here and don't take the sling off." He left the room, walking quickly.

Angell groaned. "He'll probably guilt me into telling him if I do, too."

Hawkes grinned. "Well, at least he cares."

"At the moment I'm considering if that's a good thing or a bad thing."

"My real name is Andrea Jennifer Blaine. I'm an undercover NYPD officer that infiltrated Cobra to try to bring it down from the inside out."

Mac sat back in his chair. "So how old are you actually."

Andrea smiled. "I am actually sixteen. Cobra likes teens to move their drugs into high schools, so why not use a teenaged detective? Fewer suspicions."

Danny walked into the room and set a piece of paper down in front of Mac. Mac glanced at it.

"You're in luck, Detective Blaine. Your gun didn't match either of our murder weapons."

"That's good, since I didn't shoot anyone. Except Lion, of course, but he had it coming. Oh, and, sir? Everyone calls me AJ."

Mac smiled. "As long as you don't call me sir, I'll use your correct name, AJ."

AJ shrugged. "Fair enough." She glanced uneasily at Danny. "Uhm, Detective Taylor, can Detective Messer leave the room, please?"

"Why?" Danny stared at the girl. "What, you know something about Lindsay? Were you in on it? Or are you just afraid to tell me that she's dead because I might shoot you?" Danny rounded the table, grabbing AJ by her jacket and slamming her into the wall. "Where is she?!"

Mac pulled Danny away from AJ, holding him back against the opposite wall. "Danny, I thought I told you to handle this at arm's length!"

"How can I do that, Mac? Lindsay's most likely dead, and that kid knows something!"

"Danny, leave. Leave right now. Either go home, or go help Hawkes, because you are doing _nothing_ helpful right now!" Mac pushed Danny towards the door.

The CSI glared at his boss and reluctantly back out of the room. Mac turned to look at AJ, who was staring at the table with a distant look on her face.

"I'm sorry about him. He cares a lot about Detective Monroe," Mac murmured.

"How did you know Danny's name?" Stella asked, looking suspicious.

AJ picked up her backpack and pulled out the three-ringed binder. It was white with the Cobra symbol stamped on the cover. She opened it and flipped to one of the back pages. It was a large picture of Lindsay standing next to Danny. At the bottom, under each of them, their full names were written. Lindsay's image was crossed out.

"That image was e-mailed to me three hours ago. I have no idea where they got the picture from. Cobra has no grudge against either of these CSIs; they've never even dealt with them before." AJ sighed and flipped the page again. "This came with it."

The page read:

Attention all member of Cobra:

The female CSI shown here made the mistake of being at the crime scene to investigate the "unfortunate" death of Mr. Chase Howard. She had to be removed. The Bear took care of the problem. All members will meet at six p.m. at the base to discuss what will become of Ms. CSI, as well as where our plans will go next.

The sheep in Wolf's clothing will meet the hunter or the sheepdog will be euthanized.

"Like serpents we coil, lying in wait, preying on the weak who stumble."

-Cobra

Stella and Mac looked at each other. Stella glanced over the not quickly again before speaking. "What does the sheep in wolf's clothing part mean?"

AJ shrugged. "Only top lieutenants can decipher the one-lined orders. That's how Cobra works."

Mac nodded absentmindedly. "So basically this message is saying that they have Lindsay and will have a meeting to discuss what to do with her."

"Which means that she's still alive," AJ added. "People that merely get in the way are not killed until we have all had a chance to discuss if it's necessary, depending on how they get in the way. That's why the cop at the door was killed; he was a possible risk."

"Where's this meeting?"

AJ looked at Mac. "I don't know. The location is emailed at a later time so things like this can't happen. Although, I can give you the name and address of the guy who took Lindsay."

Stella blinked. "How?"

"It says it in the email. 'The Bear took care of the problem.' Bear is the codename of Josef David. He lives at 12 Hursting Street."

Mac stood up, motioning for Stella to follow him. "Let's go."

"What about me?"

Mac and Stella exchanged glances. Stella shrugged. Mac looked at AJ carefully. "Okay. I'll give you your gun back."

AJ grinned, grabbed her binder and backpack, and followed the CSIs.

Don Flack paused as he got out of his car. He saw Mac and Stella pull to a stop behind him and get out of their own car. The girl, who Mac had told Flack was actually Detective AJ Blaine, got out of the backseat, her gun attached to her belt.

Flack walked over to her and held out his hand, which she shook. "Detective Don Flack. I owe you one."

"Detective AJ Blaine. And, not really."

"Flack, have you gotten a read on this place?" Mac and Stella appeared next to them.

"No one's come in or out, but that doesn't really mean anything," Flack answered.

"Okay, we'll just serve the warrant we came here to serve, got it?"

Everyone nodded at Mac's words. Stella's cell phone began to ring, and she turned away from the group to answer. "Bonasera."

"Stella, it's Danny. We ID'd the guy that Detective Blaine killed. He's an undercover cop named James Neil."

"Undercover? AJ should have known that. Why'd she kill him?"

"I don't know."

"Thanks, Danny, I'll call you back later." Stella flipped her cell phone shut and turned to look at AJ. The young detective made eye contact. When she saw the look on Stella's face, her expression turned to one of realization. Without the slightest bit of warning, she pushed Flack aside and bolted, running down a nearby alley.

"Mac, Don, she's in on it!" Stella yelled as she chased after AJ.

When the three detectives turned down the alley, they saw AJ halfway up a roof access ladder. Without missing a beat, Stella grabbed the ladder and climbed after her.

On the roof, Stella, Flack, and Mac found AJ standing on the edge of the roof, her gun pointed at them.

"I'm sorry. This is the only way. My entire unit is on the take. They started out as undercover officers trying to take down Cobra and ended up being Cobra itself. Detective Monroe was at the wrong place at the wrong time."

"We trusted you!" Stella snarled.

AJ looked at them, her expression one of apology and distress. "I know. I'm so sorry." With that, she jumped backwards off of the roof.


	4. Chapter 4

Stella Bonasera froze when she saw the sixteen-year-old jump backwards off of the rooftop

Stella Bonasera froze when she saw the sixteen-year-old jump backwards off of the rooftop. "No!" she heard Mac yell, and he and Flack ran over to the opposite side of the roof. Stella took off after them, but when she looked over the side she felt a bizarre mixture of relief and astonishment sweep through her.

No one was in the alley.

No body, no girl, no nothing.

As if AJ Blaine hadn't existed.

Stella noticed another roof access ladder stretching down to the ground. "Did she go down the ladder?"

"Maybe, but how could she get out of the alley so fast?" Flack sounded just as surprised as Stella felt.

"Come on, let's get down there. Maybe we can find some sort of evidence that will lead us to our kid." Mac grabbed the ladder and began to climb down into the alleyway below.

Lindsay Monroe opened her eyes as the door to the small room she was being held in was opened. The man that had identified himself as "Cobra" walked into the room and looked at her.

"You have a new cellmate, Monroe. Be glad, though, because with a new prisoner around we might not notice you enough to be forced to kill you."

Lindsay swallowed. From the discussions she'd heard among the Cobra gang members, she was lucky to have lasted this long. From what she'd heard, if you got in Cobra's way in any circumstance you were as good as dead.

"Your roommate will be in shortly."

Lindsay watched as Cobra backed out of the room. She wondered if the new prisoner was "Wolf", who members of Cobra had identified as a drug runner that betrayed them and went to snitch to the cops. If it was Wolf that had joined the ranks of Cobra hostages, Lindsay was pretty sure that she wouldn't have a cellmate for long.

When Mac Taylor walked back into the crime lab, he mentally went over the evidence that had been found in the alley. The only things found were a set of tire tracks that could have been there three minutes or three hours before AJ had done a back flip off of the roof, and a pack of gum the same type AJ bought every Friday that looked like it had most likely fallen out of her pocket.

There was nothing else to go on.

Adam Ross hurried up the Mac, looking a mixture of anxious and excited. "Mac, I think I might have figured out something in that Cobra e-mail."

"What is it, Adam?"

The quirky lab tech bounded back into his lab and pointed at a copy of the e-mail on a computer screen and read it aloud:

"Attention all member of Cobra:

The female CSI shown here made the mistake of being at the crime scene to investigate the "unfortunate" death of Mr. Chase Howard. She had to be removed. The Bear took care of the problem. All members will meet at six p.m. at the base to discuss what will become of Ms. CSI, as well as where our plans will go next.

The sheep in Wolf's clothing will meet the hunter or the sheepdog will be euthanized.

"Like serpents we coil, lying in wait, preying on the weak who stumble."

-Cobra"

"I know what it says, Adam."

Adam grinned back at his boss. "Yes, and most of it is pretty straight-forward, but the interesting bit is this sentence here." He pointed at the screen. ""The sheep in Wolf's clothing will meet the hunter or the sheepdog will be euthanized.""

"AJ said that only top lieutenants in Cobra have the necessary information to decipher those sentences."

"Well, I think she was lying to hide what the sentence means."

Mac blinked. "You know what it means?"

"I think so. If you look, the word "Wolf" in the sentence is capitalized, right? That word has no reason to be capitalized… unless it's a name. "Bear" and "Cobra", which we know are names, are capitalized as well. Plus, we know that Cobra members usually have animal nicknames, so I looked at the sentence in terms of animals. Sheepdogs usually guard sheep, right? So, basically the end of the sentence is saying that if the "sheep in Wolf's clothing" doesn't hand itself over to the hunter, the guard will be killed."

"Guard… as in a guard of the city? Like, a cop?"

Adam nodded enthusiastically. "Exactly. I was thinking, maybe the sentence was saying that if Wolf doesn't give in to the hunter, a cop will be killed. Not _a_ cop, _the_ cop."

"And cop is a general term, so it could refer to the only officer of the law in the letter… Lindsay. If we find out who Wolf is, we might have an answer to all of our problems. And we'd better hope they hand themselves over, or Lindsay might not make it."

Stella walked into Mac's office, where he was sitting reading AJ's notebook. "Hey. Find anything interesting?"

"I was looking for Wolf, but I can't seem to find… wait, here's a list of gang members. Nicknames, at least." Mac paused as he scanned down the list. "I don't see Wolf on here."

Stella shrugged. "Maybe Adam was wrong."

"I don't know, something doesn't feel right." Mac turned the page again. "Hold on a minute. AJ wrote down some notes here on a page entitled "Wolf"." He cleared his throat and began to read: "WOLF: Drug runner/seller; usually delivers and sells drugs at high schools, where there are the easiest victims. STATUS: Inactive; Cobra thinks turned snitch."

"Is that it?"

"There's one more note at the bottom." Mac read the sentence to himself, and his eyes widened.

"What is it?"

Mac looked up at her and finished reading. "Note to Self: It would be dangerous for me to resume contact with Cobra. Lieutenant Garin, A.K.A Cobra, likely to have issued order for kill on sight. Garin believes that I'm too close to my badge. Even though it's true, I can't believe Garin would kill me for it. Garin has issued an e-mail saying that he'll kill Detective Monroe if I don't hand myself over to him. I can't let another detective die because of me. Therefore, I'll probably be dead by tomorrow."

Stella was silent for a full minute following this statement. "She wasn't running to rejoin Cobra. She was running to let herself by killed by it."


	5. Chapter 5

Lieutenant Keith Garin couldn't help but think that a mistake had ended up working for him. Josef David was never supposed to kidnap, or shoot, anyone. However, when he got to the apartment and saw two cops right in the vicinity, he did what he needed to do to send a message and get insurance. The CSI was a lucky accident. By taking her, Josef had sealed the deal in catching Wolf. Wolf, A.K.A AJ Blaine, was a good cop, which was Garin's problem with her. No matter what Garin offered her, Blaine would not go against her badge and join Cobra. Even threats fell upon deaf ears as the teenager did her job all too well. At first, Garin had believed that her offer to help deal drugs at high schools had been legitimate. When the drugs vanished without a single dime in return, he realized that AJ had crossed him. That was when AJ Blaine had reached the very short Cobra hit list. Cobra didn't like issuing order of death. Years on the force had brought upon a certain regard for human life. Unfortunately, that didn't always fall on the heads of members of Cobra. It also didn't fall on people that were in the wrong place at the right time for Cobra. Detective Lindsay Monroe would have been killed if Blaine hadn't escaped the police to come to him. Even though Blaine had come in, Monroe would most likely be killed. Neither Monroe nor Blaine had to know that fact just yet.

Garin opened the door to the "cell" that Detectives Monroe and Blaine were being held in. The two chairs they were sitting on were back to back. AJ was facing Garin, and when he looked at her he saw the all-too-familiar look of contempt glaring back at him.

"Hello, Garin. I'm not very pleased with my accommodations. Can I have a room with a view?" The sarcasm and hatred in Blaine's voice was clear and slicing.

"Watch your mouth, Wolf. You're already living on borrowed time. There's nothing stopping me from killing you right now."

Blaine sneered at him. "But you won't. You still need me, which is the only reason Cougar didn't kill me as soon as I got into that car in the alley."

"Cougar didn't kill you because I told him not to. I want to kill you personally. Don't talk back to me, Wolf. You're in no position to do so."

"I'd hate to interrupt, but where does that leave me?" Lindsay asked, twisting her neck to view Garin from the corner of her eye.

"That leaves you as alive, for now," Garin growled before turning on his heel. "I'll be back to check on the two of you later." He walked out of the room.

Lindsay sighed and closed her eyes. "So why exactly does Garin need you, AJ?"

AJ laughed. "Well, I sort of… misplaced something that he wants and needs to keep Cobra going strong. He'll go bankrupt if he doesn't get that back, because he paid for it and got no money in return. Of course, that means that if I never give it up then Cobra will be out of business. That's a plus."

"If you don't tell him what he wants to know, he'll kill you!" Lindsay sounded astonished.

"Yeah, well, that's pretty much a definite right now."

"You can't just give in to his threats! People know we're missing, AJ. They're going to find us."

AJ gave a dry laugh. "Look, Detective Monroe…"

"It's Lindsay."

"Lindsay. Detectives Taylor and Bonasera are good. I know. But this… Garin has put more effort into this operation than any I've ever seen before. He's covered his tracks."

"We'll figure this out, AJ. Trust me. Don't give up just yet. Think of Garin's weaknesses. I'm sure you'll find something."

"Hey, Flack, did you guys ever find Josef David?" Angell asked the other detective as she walked up to him.

Flack shook his head. "The guy wasn't there. We searched his apartment and found a nine-mil, so it's being checked against the gun that killed the officer. We have an officer there to wait for him to come home." Flack shifted his position, leaning closer to her. "Anyway… how are you? You okay?"

Angell smiled. "I can ask you how you are, too. That bullet only missed you by an inch."

Flack moved even closer. "You worried about me, Jess?"

Angell scoffed and pushed him away with her good arm. "Not a chance, Don. I just don't want you distracted. There is a gang on the loose, you know. And, I'm completely fine."

As she turned to leave, Flack caught her right elbow and turned her back to face him. "You got _shot_, Jess. Don't take it so lightly."

"I'm fine, Don. Trust me. And I'm not taking it _lightly_… Hey." She put a hand on his arm as he looked away sighing. "I'm okay."

Flack nodded slightly. The phone on his belt began to ring. He flashed a smile and answered it. "Flack."

"Hey, Flack, it's Stella. I think we might have a lead on where Cobra's keeping Lindsay and AJ. Meet me at Mac's office."

"Okay, I'll be there." Flack snapped the cell phone shut. "We got a lead. We'll talk about this later." He grinned, turned, and hurried off.

Angell sighed and shook her head, smiling.

Flack walked into the office, where Mac and Stella were discussing something. They turned to him at his entrance.

"What d'you guys got?"

Stella gave a small smile. "AJ's smart. Her cell phone is still on."

"How did she get that past Cobra?"

Mac gave a short laugh. "That's where it gets interesting. There are two phones registered to Andrea Blaine. One of them is turned off. The other is on."

Flack realized what they were saying. "She keeps one in an obvious place, like her pocket, and hides the other one somewhere else, on, so that it can be traced."

Stella nodded. "We know exactly where AJ is."

Mac picked up his gun from his desk. "And Lindsay's probably with her."


	6. Chapter 6

Keith Garin walked back into the cell room, Tiger and another man with short red-brown hair and dark brown eyes, Cougar, following behind. AJ Blaine looked up at their entrance. "Hello, Keith, Michael, Brendan," she said with false cheerfulness, naming each of the men in order.

Cougar grinned at her, looking smug. "Well hello, Wolf! It's about time you handed yourself over. Granted, it was Tiger that picked you up instead of me, but it all leads to the same end." Brendan Hunter, A.K.A Cougar, was the hired assassin of Cobra. Even though Cobra didn't like killing people, when someone needed to be dead, Brendan took care of it. He also took care of threats, kidnappings, and extortions.

"There was a little mistake in your email. "Hunter" wasn't capitalized. How was I supposed to know it referred to you?"

"You may be smart now, Blaine, but you won't be when I put a bullet through your skull like I did for Howard. Do you know what it feels like to have a bullet rip through you, kiddo?"

"AJ, he's just trying to get to you!" Lindsay said loudly.

AJ laughed. "I know. Garin, you should know by now that I don't scare easily."

Garin smiled. "You will, Wolf. You will."

"Oh, really?"

Tiger pulled Lindsay chair around, so that she was in front of AJ but still facing away from the detective. Garin walked away from AJ and faced Lindsay. He took the handgun off of his belt and rested the barrel on Lindsay's forehead. Lindsay gave a sharp intake of breath and closed her eyes, swallowing nervously.

"Don't, Garin. Don't!"

Garin laughed, and pulled the hammer back on the gun.

AJ shook her head, straining against the rope around her. "Garin, DON'T!"

Mac, Stella, Flack, and NYPD SWAT all gathered outside of the abandoned warehouse that was where the cell phone signal from AJ Blaine's phone was coming from. They all entered the building, splitting up to search the many rooms that had been set up inside. The main room was in the center, and when Mac and Stella entered it, they realized that something was wrong. In the middle of the room sat one chair. On top of it sat AJ's cell phone.

The quiet stillness of the building settled around the two CSIs as they tried to figure out what this meant. Stella was the first the break the silence. "What is this, a set up? Are we going to get blown up? It doesn't make sense."

The cell phone lit up with a text message alert. Mac and Stella exchanged glances, and Mac picked up the phone with gloves and flipped it open, reading the screen.

"Hello, Detectives. You actually think I'm this stupid? Cobra. P.S. Detective Flack might need a medic."

Stella paused. "What does that mean?"

Mac grabbed his radio. "Flack? Flack, are you there?"

There was no answer.

"Flack?!"

Only static.


	7. Chapter 7

The instructions were simple. Take out one of the cops. As soon as those words had gone from Cobra's lips to Tiger's ears, the gang member knew exactly who he was going for. Tiger, known to most as Michael Lewis, had not always been eager to do what his lieutenant told him. However, he had grown accustomed to the workings of Cobra, including the egotistical attitude of his boss. Come on, the guy took the name of the gang as his own code name, for crying out loud. One other thing Tiger hated was when someone taunted him. In his eyes, many things constituted as a taunt. Detective Don Flack had reached his list of people that taunted him, when Michael hadn't been able to kill him. As soon as Michael had seen Detective Flack break away from the group to clear a side room, Tiger had decided to take the opportunity to get back at him for the taunt. Of course, the exact order from Cobra had been to hit the cop on the back of the head, knocking them out, but Tiger had decided to interpret the order as "kill whoever you want".

And Tiger wanted to kill Detective Don Flack.

Being a former cop meant that you had the advantage of knowing the names of many of the homicide detectives. Tiger didn't recognize Flack's partner, the brunette, but he did know of Flack himself. He was a good cop, and a loyal one at that. Tiger had grown to greatly dislike good, loyal cops after the fiasco with the name AJ Blaine, which just added more strikes against the homicide detective.

Tiger crept up behind the cop that was heading towards Flack and covered his mouth with his hand, hitting the back of his head with the butt of his gun and knocking him out. Tiger slowly pushed his way into the room Flack was in and pointed the handgun at the detective's back. One quick shot would take him down, but something about that didn't appeal to Tiger. There wasn't enough pain in that approach.

Some might say that he was obsessing a little too much over one cop that got away, but that was Tiger's style. He didn't like things not going his way. Period.

Tiger silently walked up behind Flack. The detective wasn't expecting someone coming at him from the place he figured guarded by his fellow cops. It had been extremely easy to sneak in. Garin had made sure that Tiger had been able to keep his badge when he quit the force a year ago. Therefore, all he had to do was flash his old badge and he was allowed entry.

A floorboard creaked under Tiger's foot, and he froze. He watched as Flack turned around. The detective looked extremely surprised for a moment; he probably hadn't expected someone to be standing right behind him. Flack went to aim the gun in his hand, but Tiger reacted faster, lashing out at the cop with the handgun in his right hand. The gun made contact with the side of Flack's head, and he fell sideways. Tiger punched forward, knocking the standard-issue gun out of Flack's hand, leaving the cop on the ground, bleeding and defenseless.

"Try to alert your friends and I kill you, cop," Tiger growled, keeping his own weapon pointed at Flack's head.

"I know you!" Flack snarled, sounding angry at himself, Tiger, or (most likely) both. "You're the guy that tried to take me and Angell out in that alley!"

So, the partner had a name. Good. Tiger could find and kill her later.

Flack started to get up while Tiger was momentarily distracted, and Tiger put his attention back on his gun. The homicide detective froze, eyeing the gun with a mixture of hesitation and frustration. Then, before Tiger could even think about shooting the defiance off of the man's smug face, Flack kicked out, knocking Tiger's legs out from under him. Flack dove on top the Tiger, grabbing for the Beretta. The gun went off, and Tiger felt a drop of the detective's blood fall onto him; the bullet had grazed his neck. Flack gave a grunt of pain, but adrenaline kept him fighting for the gun. The gun slid away from both of their grasps, flying across the ground in the tussle. Tiger got some leeway, and shoved Flack off of him. The ex-cop went to go for his gun, but heard a voice outside yell, "Hey, somebody knocked out Williams!"

_Damn it._ Tiger thought. "We'll finish this at another time," he growled at Flack. Tiger turned and bolted towards the door at the opposite side of the room.

Panting, Flack grabbed his gun and got to his feet, clutching the side of his neck. A SWAT cop came into the room, his gun raised. When he saw Flack, he paused.

"Are you okay, Detective?"

"Not extremely. I just had a really close call. The guy went that way." Flack pointed at the other door, and the SWAT cop and a few others hurried in that direction. Mac and Stella came behind them, stopping next to Flack.

"Jeez, Flack, any closer and we'd have a DOA."

"Yeah, thanks for lifting my spirits, Stell."

"Come on, you need to have that looked at." Mac grabbed Flack by the arm and led him out of the room.

- - - -

"Give me a reason to spare her life, Wolf. She can identify us; I can't just let her walk out of here." Garin kept his handgun pointed steadily at Lindsay's forehead as he looked at AJ.

AJ paused. "You need a reason not to kill a cop? I thought your opinion was to never kill cops, Garin."

"Things can change, girl."

"Really? Because I don't think so. I think that you don't want Detective Monroe to die. That's why you got angry at Bear for killing the cop that was guarding the door. You don't like killing cops because you are a cop yourself. Granted, you're a dirty cop, but in the end you're still a police officer."

"Is that all you're going to bargain, Blaine?"

AJ smiled. "No. I know where your drugs are. If you want them, you'll let her go."

Garin's face went from smugness to coldness in seconds. "Where are those drugs, Blaine?"

AJ chuckled. "You find out when Lindsay is let out of here."

"Don't test me, Wolf!"

"Don't test _me_, Garin. You want your drugs, you let Detective Monroe leave. She goes first, though."

"If I give up my hostage, what's to say that you don't double-cross me?"

AJ gave Garin a long look. "I'm the "too-good for her own good" cop, remember? I'm not going to lie to you."

Before Garin could respond, Tiger walked into the room, looking unhappy.

"Problems, Tiger?" Cougar asked, a grin on his face.

"Well, I caused some injuries, but I ended up running from SWAT. They got clued in somehow."

AJ was giving Tiger a thoughtful look. "Garin, I just realized something. You don't like killing cops, and yet you let this lunatic loose on two cops. He tried to kill Detective Angell, you know."

Garin's blank expression twitched for a moment, and he glared at Tiger.

"Uh… I can explain, boss…"

"Save it for later. Leave my sight. And take Monroe with you. She leaves the building, no questions asked. If you so much as give her a bruise, you will be in huge amounts of trouble."

Tiger gave AJ a nasty look as he untied Lindsay and took her by the arm, pulling her out of the room.

- - - -

Tiger led Lindsay outside of the warehouse. It was surrounded by other warehouses.

"I don't know why Garin has decided to let you leave, but it's not my place to ask. It probably has something to do with the fact that Cobra will be gone by three o'clock this afternoon. Good luck getting home." Tiger turned and walked back into the warehouse.

Lindsay watched him leave, feeling increasingly surprised that Garin had just let her go. She turned around and stopped dead, seeing Cougar standing behind her with a grin on his face. "You didn't think it'd be that easy, did you?" He swung his Glock at her, striking her in the side of the head and sending her into blackness as two gunshots echoed from inside the building.


	8. Chapter 8

When Tiger took Lindsay out of the room, AJ felt a little relaxed that at least she wasn't in the room any longer.

"Now, Wolf, where are my drugs?"

AJ paused, and a smile crept onto her face. "You really want to know, Garin?"

"Of course I do!"

AJ laughed. "They're in the evidence lockup."

Garin's expression turned to one of terrified fury. "In _evidence_? That means… that means that…"

"Everyone knows that you're Cobra, Garin. Since I was already in, the higher-ups figured they'd use me to bring you down, while putting you under the impression that they thought you were investigating Cobra."

"You tricked me! You lying little… Wait. So they know where we are right now." Garin took a deep breath. "They're coming here right now, aren't they?!"

A smug smile was all the answer he got.

Garin raised the gun in his hand. "You'll pay for this, kid." He fired two shots.

- - -

Detective Don Flack leaned against Mac Taylor's desk, looking none too pleased with himself. "How did I not hear him coming, Mac? How did I _not hear_ that son of a bitch sneaking up on me?!"

Mac, who was sitting in his chair, looked patiently up at the cop. "Flack, you couldn't have expected anything from behind you. You thought Officer Williams had the door covered. You couldn't have done anything differently. Look, Don, everyone's okay. Don't worry about it."

"Mac, Don!"

A slight blush came to Flack's face as his hand involuntarily touched the wound on his neck, covering it slightly with the collar of his jacket. He turned around to face Jessica Angell, who was walking into the office.

She took in the bandage covering his neck with one glance and said, "I heard what happened. You all right?"

"Fine," Flack said briskly. "What's up?"

"I just got a call from a Lieutenant Ryan Russell from the NYPD gang unit. Apparently he's heard of our connection to Cobra because he's on his way over here to talk to you about the situation at hand."

Mac sat back in his chair, thinking. "That sounds like he knows more about this than we do."

Angell gave a one-armed shrug.

"Do me a favor, Jess, bring him here when you find him, okay?"

Angell nodded at Flack's words, turned, and walked out of the office.

- - -

Less than ten minutes later, a man with short black hair and green eyes walked into Mac's office, following Angell. Flack and Mac were still there, and looked up at their entrance. The man extended a hand to Mac and Don in turn, saying, "Lieutenant Ryan Russell, NYPD gang unit."

Mac and Don introduced themselves, and all four officers sat down.

Russell took a breath and started. "Detective Angell told me about your missing officer, as well as your own individual problems," he said, gesturing towards Angell's arm and Flack's neck. "I assure you that I had no idea that this was going down, Detective Taylor. I had strict surveillance on Keith Garin, but my unit was too small to cover all of his guys. Detective Blaine collected all of the drugs that were given to her and placed them in a safe, secured evidence locker. Something went wrong, though, and she stopped making contact yesterday."

"Yesterday was Friday. She shot a member of Cobra to save Detectives Angell and Flack here. Then, when we went to arrest Josef David, she ran and vanished, presumably to sacrifice herself for our kidnapped Detective Monroe."

Russell nodded at Mac's words. "That makes sense. That's enough exposition, now we have to move. We're moving in on the known Cobra meeting place in fifteen minutes. If you guys want to tag along, you can. Our number one priority is getting Detectives Blaine and Monroe out safely, but a close number two is capturing as many members of Cobra as we can. Is that understood?"

Mac, who was already getting to his feet and grabbing his gun, nodded. "We'll come with you. I'm going to bring two of my guys, as well as Detective Flack. Angell, get Hawkes and another officer and go down to Lieutenant Russell's evidence. We don't know how much access Garin's got, and I don't want him getting at those drugs."

Jess murmured acceptance and quickly left as Mac and Don followed Russell out of the office.

- - -

Mac stood directly behind Russell as the gang unit lieutenant prepared to enter the warehouse that was the known center of Cobra activity. Behind him stood Stella, Flack, Danny, and a few other officers from Russell's team. Danny had a look of furious longing in his eyes, and his gun was clenched tightly in his hands.

"Hey," Mac said softly to the younger CSI. "Are you okay on this?"

The look Danny gave him said everything, but he followed it with, "Let's just do this."

Russell nodded at Mac and after a moment of hesitation burst into the front doors of the warehouse. The only back door was entered moments later by a few gang unit cops and some SWAT team members. As the teams went from room to room, the building seemed more and more empty until finally there was only one room left, the one in the dead center. Russell entered first, and a sharp yell of hard panic filled his voice as he did a quick once-over of the room and ran forward to crouch beside the still body of AJ Blaine. The kid was incredibly pale, and blood covered her clothes. Mac could see two bullet holes, one in the right side of her chest and the other to her lower right abdomen. The slight, gaspy sound of breath exited her mouth as Russell put one finger to her neck to check for a pulse. Her blue eyes snapped open swiftly, and she blinked furiously, trying to get a hold on her surroundings.

"Shh, kid, it's okay. It's all right. We're getting you an ambulance. Everything's going to be okay," Russell said in a low voice.

AJ opened her mouth, gave a small cough and locked eye contact with Mac. The CSI knelt down to hear her whispered word.

"_Evidence."_


	9. Chapter 9

Angell paced back and forth in the evidence locker, her handgun back in her right hand where it belonged. She had abandoned the sling a half-hour ago, and had already dealt with Hawkes's question about whether she should be wearing it. She found herself occasionally glancing at the cop that had joined her and Hawkes in the evidence locker. Hawkes was one of Mac's trusted ones, so she was almost completely sure that he wasn't going to pull a gun on anyone, but she didn't know the other officer, Carlin, well enough to fully trust him when a "cop" had tried to kill her the day before. Angell had just walked the same apprehensive path across the floor for the up-teenth time when she saw Hawkes make a sudden movement, staring at the exit to his left.

"What's wrong?" Angell asked, not used to seeing the CSI so uptight.

"I don't know, I just thought that I heard something. I'm going to go check it out, okay?"

Angell paused, noting that Hawkes was actually asking for her approval. "Carlin, you go," she told the thirty-something officer. "No offense, but this is more of a cop-thing than a CSI-thing, no matter what Mac says," she added to Hawkes.

Hawkes gave a shrug of acceptance, and Officer Carlin made his way to the door at the side. When he opened it, a man in a police uniform walked in, looking curious at the gun in Carlin's hand. "Did I miss something important? What's with the gun?"

Carlin hesitated. Angell could see that he was having problems with accepting that other cops were the bad guys in this situation. "You can't come in here until you tell me what exactly you're looking for. This room is restricted today."

"Oh? I'm looking for the evidence in a case against Cobra. You may have heard of it," the cop said.

Carlin gave an uneasy glance back at Angell and Hawkes, which was all the time the man needed to pull the gun at his belt- handily equipped with a silencer- and shoot Carlin once in the head.

By the time the brief moment of shock had been overcome by both Angell and Hawkes, the man already had his gun on them. He pulled a radio from his pocket and spoke into it. "One down, two hostages, room clear. Eagle out."

A crackling voice answered back. "Good. Thirty seconds. Cobra out."

Exactly thirty seconds later, Lieutenant Keith Garin strutted into the room, closely followed by a two men, whom Angell recognized as Tiger and Bear, the two who had fled the alleyway before. Another man followed, dragging Lindsay Monroe by the arm. A small flash of relief crossed Angell's mind when she realized that Lindsay didn't seem hurt, with the exception of a gash on her cheek. Garin addressed the man holding Lindsay, saying, "Cougar, you can un-cuff her now."

Lindsay had been handcuffed, and as soon as they were taken off, she asked, in a slightly mordant voice, "Oh, am I less of a flight risk now?"

"I'm telling you, Monroe," Garin growled. "Don't talk." He turned to Hawkes and Angell, who had already been disarmed, and said, "Don't worry, detectives. Once we have what was stolen from us, we'll be gone."

"Leaving how many people dead behind you?" Angell couldn't help but say.

Cobra raised an eyebrow. "Why, no one! The officer back there…" He jerked his head back at Carlin. "…was killed because he got in the way. But none of you are going to do that, are you?"

"We have a habit of getting in the way." Angell smirked. In her mind, she was trying to figure out how long the others had been gone, and whether or not they were already on their way back.

Tiger's gun swung out, striking Angell in the exact place he had shot her before. "Don't talk back to Cobra!" he snarled.

Cobra pulled Tiger back, his gaze resting firmly on Angell. "You know, detective, I really don't like sarcastic people. Blaine was one, and I shot her twice. Do you think you'd survive that?" He aimed his gun at Angell, a small taunting smile on his face.

- - -

Detective Don Flack couldn't help the twinge of agitated worry that was boiling inside of him as he looked out of the passenger window of Stella Bonasera's SUV. He gave a grunt of annoyance as Stella worked her way around yet another slow-moving car. "I swear that the people in this city don't care about sirens."

Stella seemed relatively surprised as she looked at Flack. "You aren't usually this frustrated. Are you okay?"

"I've been set on the wrong track by this guy too many times, Stell. That and I know Angell well enough to know that she'll be smart and get herself killed when Garin finds his way into evidence." Flack sounded bitter.

Stella, being careful to avoid crashing, replied, "You're worried about Angell? She can take care of herself."

"I know, I know, but if anything happens to her I'll know that I shouldn't have let her participate when she was injured."

Stella, despite the seriousness of the situation, couldn't help but laugh. Flack glanced at her sharply. "What are you laughing about?"

"You _like_ her!"

"What?"

Stella snickered like a ninth-grader. "You _like_ Angell!"

Flack, blushing slightly, retorted, "No, I just like being able to pass off all of your crazy cases onto some one else. Keep driving, Bonasera. Next time I'm going in Mac's car."

- - -

While it was great to be back in familiar territory, the screaming note of fear in the back of Lindsay Monroe's mind still hadn't gone away. Cobra hadn't made good on his threat to shoot Angell; instead, he had made Angell, Hawkes, and Lindsay sit on the ground, one foot away from each other at all times, with their hands in front of them.

What could she say, the guy was smart.

Angell and Hawkes were on one wall, and Lindsay had her back against the opposite wall, across from Hawkes. Her fellow CSI looked fine, but it was Angell that had Lindsay worried. She was staring straight ahead, a defiantly frustrated gleam in her eyes. Lindsay had the feeling that she was quite irritated at being delegated to the typical damsel-in-distress role. Hawkes, his doctor instincts kicking in, was staring, concerned, at Angell's right arm, which was covered in blood. Lindsay chanced a quick glance at Cobra, and saw that he, along with all of his guys, was all the way at the back of the room. If they tried to leave, he'd see them, but maybe they could risk talking quietly.

"How did that hit draw blood?" Lindsay half-mumbled, half-whispered.

A small, sardonic smile came to Angell's face. "That guy, Tiger… he really doesn't like me for some reason. Must be the sarcasm. He doesn't like Flack much, either." For only the second time since Lindsay had been brought into the room, Angell looked at her. "He shot me yesterday. Same spot he hit me in tonight, ironically."

"I'm sorry."

Angell blinked, confused. "What are you sorry for?"

Lindsay shifted. "I should have paid more attention to my surroundings. Then I wouldn't have been kidnapped, and this wouldn't have happened."

Angell, surprisingly, smiled at her apology. "Maybe you didn't make the smartest decisions in the world, but that's what happens. I probably could have avoided getting shot, but things happen that you can't prevent." Angell let out a soft laugh. "Get over yourself, Monroe. You aren't the cause of _everything_, you know."

The humor relaxed Lindsay slightly, and she let a smile form on her face. The smile faded quickly, when Cobra made his way from the back of the locker and said, "Get up, all of you."

Hawkes looked up at him. "Why?" The CSI had been quiet for the entirety of the situation, and finally spoke up at this request.

"Because I'm going to need some hostages until I'm at least outside of New York." Cobra grinned nastily. "Don't worry- I'll make sure to drop you in the Hudson River so you can get back to New York."

"What's the point of hostages? Having three members of the NYPD tied up in the back of a van isn't going to help you get out of a speeding ticket."

Cobra's grin vanished at Angell's words. "You really are pressing your luck, girl. You don't know when to stop talking, do you?"

It was Angell's turn to smile. "I've been learning my retorts from the best."

Tiger, who had looked like he wanted to say something since he walked into the room, couldn't contain himself any longer. "Sir, this is the detective that escaped Bear and me before."

"Ah…" Cobra murmured, glancing at Angell's bleeding arm. "I take it that this is the one you shot even though I told you not to?"

Tiger, looking abashed, muttered, "Sort of, yeah."

Cobra seemed to take this in for a moment before responding to Angell's earlier question. "Why do we need hostages? Well, I guess we don't." He turned and walked towards the door, carrying a duffel bag most likely holding his stolen drugs. "Kill them all."

Lindsay was the first one to her feet, letting out a nervous laugh. "Hold on a minute. Leaving three dead cops in your wake is bad enough, but _six_? Do you _want_ a manhunt?"

Garin adjusted the strap on his bag, looking bored. "There'll be a manhunt whether I kill the three of you or not, detective. You can't negotiate out of this."

Angell and Hawkes, also on their feet, exchanged glances as Lindsay protested, "It's not like you need to worry about us IDing you! Thanks to AJ, they already know what you look like!"

"Don't bother, Lindsay. He's obviously too idiotic to listen to reason," Angell muttered.

Garin aimed his gun at Angell. "Strike three." He pulled the trigger, and the gun went off.


	10. Chapter 10

**I am having WAY too much fun with this to be normal.**

**I'd like to mention that "Commuted Sentences" is, like, my favorite episode of CSI:NY. I love how annoyed Angell looks the entire time Amber's in the car. As you'll find out (and if you get the hint you're awesome), "DOA for a Day" held one of my favorite shipper scenes ever.**

- - -

The next few seconds seemed to go by in slow-motion. Garin's bullet hit Angell, and the NYPD detective fell backwards into the wall. Lindsay let out a muted scream, and the door to the evidence locker was kicked in. Don Flack entered the room, closely followed by Stella Bonasera. The cop paused for a mere moment to take in the scene in front of him, and almost immediately surged forward, knocking the gun out of Garin's grasp and pushing the man to the floor. Stella trailed him, bringing a few police officers with her. Garin's two remaining cronies were quickly handcuffed. Hawkes looked around. "Where's the other guy?"

Stella glanced at him. "What other guy?"

"There were three guys with him," Hawkes replied, gesturing at Garin.

"Tiger," Lindsay answered, also looking around.

Stella motioned for Hawkes and a female officer to come closer and said, "Hawkes, go with Officer Burdulis. See if this "Tiger" is still in the building, okay?"

The two officers nodded and left, walking past Danny Messer as he walked in, followed by Mac.

- - -

Mac Taylor looked around the evidence locker. Cobra and two of his men were being led out of the room by some police officers. Danny was hugging Lindsay, who looked relatively uninjured. A look of relief was plastered on both of their faces.

Mac's gaze drifted away, and with a jolt of realization he saw a still form in an NYPD uniform. The officer that had been with Hawkes and Angell must have been killed by Garin.

Speaking of Angell, where was she? Mac turned sharply and saw Flack kneeling next to her. She was sitting up, her back against the wall. Her jacket had been unzippered, revealing a bulletproof vest. Angell was toying with the vest in the area of her lower right ribs, a bullet lying on the floor next to her. Flack was just watching her, a relieved smile on his face that mirrored the one Danny had at the moment.

As Mac walked over, he heard Angell say, grinning, "I knew there was a reason I put this on."

Flack laughed. "See, I _told_ you you looked good in a vest."

"Are you okay?" Mac asked, stopping next to Flack.

Angell nodded. "I'll probably have a nice bruise in the morning, but I'm alive, which is always a good thing."

Mac pointed at Angell's arm. "You're bleeding again."

Flack looked up at him. "Yeah. Tiger hit her." He gave Angell a mischievous smile. "Maybe next time she'll keep the sling on."

Angell rolled her eyes. Mac smiled. "Well, make sure you have it looked at." Angell nodded, and Mac walked over to Stella.

"Any word on the missing guy?"

Stella, frowning, shook her head. "He probably nonchalantly wandered out when everyone was investigating the gunshots in the evidence locker. Smart. How's AJ?"

Mac shrugged. "She was in surgery when I talked to Lieutenant Russell last. The doctor didn't tell him anything."

Stella sighed. "Mac, we have two dead cops. One in surgery. At least three gone rogue. This is a nightmare."

Mac glanced back at Flack and Angell, then at Danny and Lindsay. "It could have been a lot worse. We deal with it a move on. We have to do our jobs, Stella, whether the results are good or not."

- - -THREE WEEKS LATER- - -

AJ Blaine made her way into Mac Taylor's office, a loose grin lit on her face. Stella Bonasera was sitting across from the CSI, and looked up at the teen's entrance.

"AJ! I didn't expect to be seeing you around here."

"Well, I had to check in to see how much damage was done, didn't I?"

"Should you be wandering around so soon?" Stella asked, a patronizing note to her voice.

AJ scoffed. "Probably not. I don't really care, though." She took a seat next to Stella.

"Why did Garin shoot you, anyway?" Mac looked up from the folder on his desk.

AJ, laughing, answered, "He found out I was a Red Sox fan."

"Oh, that's just not right." Flack walked into the office, Angell behind him.

- - -

**((I need to interrupt this story, since I've just noticed that Angell seems to follow Flack around the building. It's just the easiest way to get them both in the same room. It wasn't to imply anything. Although if it does I'll gladly take credit for it. grinslikeagoodlittleshipper))**

- - -

AJ shrugged. "My dad grew up in Boston. It rubbed off." She sighed. "Garin actually found out that I had been working for Ryan to take him down. When he discovered how much Ryan knew, he freaked out and shot me. It's funny, I'd never really wondered what it felt like to be shot."

"Well, I guess three of us don't need to wonder that after this case," Angell muttered, her right arm moving slightly as an almost afterthought.

Flack moved his neck at her words, adding, uncomfortably, "They never did find Tiger, you know."

AJ nodded. "Knowing him, he's probably already in California with all of Cobra's money and drugs."

Mac folded his hands, thinking. "Since you gave us an ID on him, we know who he is and what he looks like. He won't stay away for long, and when he resurfaces, we'll catch him. He took shots at two NYPD officers. I'm going to make sure that that sticks for as long as possible."

AJ, nodding slightly, got to her feet. "I need to be going. I just wanted to mention something…" She faced Flack and Angell. "The two of you need to be careful. If you even _think_ you see Tiger, go in the opposite direction."

The two detectives exchanged glances. "Why?" Angell asked.

AJ gave her a small sigh. "Tiger isn't the type of person to let things go. You two didn't die. That's why he targeted you specifically in that warehouse, Detective Flack. He might be gone for now, but once he works up his courage…" She paused. "He'll come after you."

Leaving the conversation to die in the air, AJ Blaine turned and walked out of the office, leaving Mac, Stella, Flack, and Angell to think about her words.

And the threat.

- - -

**And we're done! Oooh, sequel suspense! Will Tiger be back? Will he go after Flack and Angell? Will people die? Will Danny and Lindsay ever stop being so damn ambiguous?**

**Will I ever get a life?**

**I'm only answering one question, and the answer is no! It's up to you to figure out which question I'm answering, although I'm thinking it's not too hard to guess.**

**Stay Tuned for "Ten Double Zero", the second FanFict featuring my new cop friend, AJ Blaine, who probably would never ever exist in real life since she's only 16. Whatever. More F/A to come. I'll see if I use D/L. It's just not as much fun. I know that I didn't really follow up on Lindsay, but I'll do a little bit of backtracking for it in "10-00" (Which is it's "I don't feel like typing the whole title out" title.)**

**Review! Don't hate me! Read more of my stuff when I get around to writing more!**

**-AlexKost**


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